# May (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/may/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. US counts from the Social Security Administration; England and Wales counts from the Office for National Statistics; meaning and etymology from Wiktionary. Data updated 2026-11-11.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Usually given to | girls |
| Origin | French |
| Meaning | “maia's month” |
| Pronunciation | /meɪ/, 1 syllable |
| Nicknames | none recorded |
| Variant spellings | Ma, Mae |
| US babies named this | 50,099 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 699 / 49,400 (99% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | 2,173, 1996 to 2025 |

## Etymology

From Middle English May, Mai, from Old French mai, from Latin Maius (“Maia's month”), from Maia, a Roman earth goddess.

## Popularity

The last 15 years of each series. A year is missing when too few babies were given the name for the agency to publish it: five in the US, three in England and Wales.

### United States, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 88 | 2,170 |
| 2012 | 106 | 1,900 |
| 2013 | 109 | 1,859 |
| 2014 | 138 | 1,575 |
| 2015 | 130 | 1,652 |
| 2016 | 131 | 1,651 |
| 2017 | 128 | 1,682 |
| 2018 | 129 | 1,645 |
| 2019 | 133 | 1,602 |
| 2020 | 119 | 1,714 |
| 2021 | 123 | 1,690 |
| 2022 | 155 | 1,446 |
| 2023 | 156 | 1,437 |
| 2024 | 168 | 1,361 |
| 2025 | 183 | 1,233 |

### United States, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1962 | 8 | 3,215 |
| 1963 | 5 | 4,426 |
| 1965 | 7 | 3,447 |
| 1980 | 5 | 6,907 |
| 1982 | 9 | 4,461 |
| 1983 | 9 | 4,368 |
| 1984 | 5 | 6,982 |
| 1986 | 8 | 5,163 |
| 1987 | 6 | 6,659 |
| 1988 | 11 | 4,357 |
| 1989 | 6 | 7,587 |
| 1990 | 9 | 5,662 |
| 1991 | 7 | 7,017 |
| 1992 | 7 | 7,153 |
| 1996 | 6 | 8,624 |

### England and Wales, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 106 | 414 |
| 2012 | 89 | 493 |
| 2013 | 81 | 515 |
| 2014 | 73 | 576 |
| 2015 | 64 | 643 |
| 2016 | 74 | 567 |
| 2017 | 60 | 683 |
| 2018 | 49 | 778 |
| 2019 | 52 | 737 |
| 2020 | 60 | 631 |
| 2021 | 59 | 654 |
| 2022 | 60 | 630 |
| 2023 | 57 | 637 |
| 2024 | 64 | 610 |
| 2025 | 64 | 610 |

## In other languages

- Chinese: 梅
- Finnish: Touko, touko, toukok.
- Hebrew: מַאי, מַאיָה
- Hungarian: Maja, máj.
- Latvian: Maija
- Russian: Ма́йя
- Slovene: Máj, Mája
- Swedish: Maj, May
- Armenian: մյս
- Czech: kvě
- Georgian: მაი.
- Greek: Μάι, Μαΐ, λευκάκανθα
- Italian: mag., mag
- Lithuanian: geg.
- Portuguese: mai.
- Spanish: may., may
- Tagalog: May., May
- Turkish: May
- Ukrainian: трав.
- Vietnamese: thg 5

## People named May

- Louisa May Alcott, American novelist (1832–1888)
- Anna May Wong, Chinese American actress (1905-1961)
- May Whitty, English actress (1865-1948)
- May Robson, Australian-born American actress (1858-1942)
- Edna May Oliver, American actress (1883–1942)
- Ethel May Collins, English supercentenarian (born 1909)
- May Calamawy, Egyptian-Palestinian actress
- May McAvoy, American actress (1899–1984)
- May Pang, American former music executive
- May Allison, American actress (1890–1989)
- Ina May Gaskin, American midwife (*1940)
- May el-Toukhy, Danish-Egyptian film director and screenwriter

## How to read these numbers

A count is babies registered with that name in that year, not people alive now, so a name common a century ago can have a large total and few recent births.